Fed Chair Fact-Checks Trump’s Interest Rate Claims in Real Time

U.S. President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell clashed face to face Thursday over the expense of renovations to the central bank's Washington headquarters, with the Fed chief claiming the president was mistaken about the cost of the refurbishment.

Trump, standing shoulder to shoulder with Powell, both wearing construction helmets, stated Fed renovation expenses had risen from $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion, prompting the Fed president to silently shake his head and reply, "I'm not aware of that."

Trump responded, "It just came out," and Powell again questioned where the president's statistic came from, noting that it was not from the central bank. 

Powell then observed that it looked as if the president had factored in the existing cost of repairing two buildings, the cost of overhauling an additional central bank office.  "You just added a third building," he informed me.

"It was built five years ago.  "We finished Martin five years ago," the Fed chief stated.

Powell also stated, as he stood next to Trump, that he did not anticipate any additional cost overruns, but the Fed has reserves to cope with them if necessary.